Groundhog Day & Comprehension Beanie Baby Posters

Well it was a successful Groundhog day in my classroom, everyone went home happy & ready for DAY 100.....tomorrow b/c that means only 80 more to go (but who's counting).  Here are something we did today to celebrate the groundhog.....even though we don't believe we will have 6 more weeks of winter (b/c here in NC it has been in the high 60's all month). 

We made these too cute groundhogs, that went with a glyph.  The arms depended on if your bday is in winter or not, the inside ears depended on if you were a boy or a girl & the sun/cloud was if you thought the ground hog would see his shadow or not.

Then we watched a short video on shadows & went outside & looked for our shadows & then they paired up with a partner & they drew each others shadow......good thing it was SUNNY!!!!  It was fun to see the different ways they would stand.

Here are some other things we did during Daily 5....Nonsense word Candy Land (read yesterday's post to get the Candy Land Cards).  Met with a reading group to finish their character page on Junie B. Jones in the 1st chap. we read & did fast phrases with my students.

We just started that this week.  They get a Fast Phrase book with 6 lists.  Some kinders I had last yr. & they picked up where they left off.  They have to read the 25 phrases in 30 seconds.  It takes practice at home, they can not just come to school & expect to ace it.  As they finish their 6 lists they move up to the next 6.  I was really impressed with how they did this week!!!!

Fast Phrase booklet

List 1 ....they all look like this & need to be read in 30 seconds.

Junie B. character page.  We are trying to focus on character traits & describing characters.

If you are interested in Fast Phrases you can Google Frye's Fast Phrases & find it there. 


My latest download on TpT....Comprehension Beanie Baby Strategies.  You can purchase it here.  It includes posters for the following comprehension strategies:  Spinner the Spider (connections), Rocky the Raccoon (visualizations), Fix It Bear (Monitor & Repair), Digger Dog (dig for important details), Jabber Parrot (retelling), Iggy Iguana (Making Inferences), Questioning Owl ( Ask questions).  It also includes cards for each strategy they can take home to trigger a conversation with their parents about what they have learned that day. 

Cards to take home

Posters to use in your classroom

Here is Digger the Dog.....this is the strategy I introduced this week.  It is an added bonus to use the beanie baby with the poster to help students remember.  I got mine on ebay, dug them out of the bottom of a closet from years ago & they sell them at AC Moore & teachers get 10% off.

Stay tuned for Decoding Beanie Baby Posters.......& 100 Day activities tomorrow.  We are starting off our day with a parade around the school to show of our 100 day projects.  I will say this one is my fav ......I got the idea on Pinterest!!!!

Happy 100th Day for those who are near or it already happened or is tomorrow!!!!!!